Having
recently read Jason’s ‘All Bout My Girl’, a fictional book set in the early 60s
Mod scene of London, I have been really looking forward to his latest book, ‘All
Or Nothing’, and I most certainly wasn’t disappointed.
The new
book is a continuation of the story of the main Mod character from the first
book and is set in 1966. Being the tail-end of that scene, with original styles,
club nights and themes fragmenting, this gives a very interesting perspective
of that time (particularly as the main character has been out of the UK for a
couple of years and is returning (to attend a friends’ funeral) to a changing
scene himself). Jason carefully crafts in the changing styles in shirts, going
to Tiles on Oxford Street, the younger generation of Mods on the scene, the
disappearance of older Faces and even talks about Jeff Dexter DJ’ing and what
has happened to Guy Stevens (post The Scene Club)whilst he’s been away.
But that’s
not all, there is a good old sixties gold bullion caper running throughout the
story with the Old Bill on the teams’ trail – the main characters having
chapters in the first person so you can really feel the story developing and
how they all interact with each other. And all of this during the 1966 World
Cup tournament!!!
There’s
a few twists and turns along the way, culminating in an exciting finale (at the
same time that England are facing West Germany at Wembley), which certainly
leaves the door open for another story in the future.
With ‘All
Or Nothing’, Jason has given us another fictional book combining attention to
the detail of Mod (at a very interesting point in time) with a rip-roaring,
humorous, adventure story which is a great read on many levels.
Having
read most of the large volume of Mod fiction that has come out in recent years,
Jason’s work is amongst the very best – you would be doing yourself an immense
favour by getting a copy of ‘All Or Nothing’ (and ‘All About My Girl’ if you
haven’t already read it) and immersing yourself in this incredibly entertaining
Mod caper.
Both
books are available from http://suavecollective.co.uk/ for just £5 (incl.
P&P) and are available for Kindle at just £2 each. Go on – you know you
want to…….
By Paul Hooper-Keeley
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